2008 politics as I see it

Years ago- well, even as recently as the last election- presidential races were relatively simple. We were asked to choose between a pair of stodgy, rich white guys running against an equally stodgy pair of rich white guys (whether the votes were properly cast and there was a clear-cut winner is another story). The public was, for the most part, able to focus on the issues facing the country at the time, the candidates' track records, their beliefs, and any crumbling skeletons waiting to be dug out of the closet.
This election is different. It has become part Celebrity Death Match (imagine a claymation Obama duking it out with a wrinkly claymation McCain) and part barrier-breaking, glass ceiling-shattering historical event. When CNN is showing Paris Hilton campaign videos and every major gossip magazine has Sarah Palin's face on it, with headlines discussing her daughter's pregnancy instead of talking about the candidates' views on real issues, we have a problem. It's time to discuss the issues at hand rather than blather on about the candidates' physical attributes and family lives. Barack Obama has, for the most part, tried to keep race and gender out of his campaign, even as the media tried to make it an issue at every turn, even after defeating Hilary Clinton. His choice of a running mate helped to strengthen any perceived shortcomings that he has and Biden's years of foreign policy experience would help him in the oval office.
Now ol' McCain has decided to use his choice of a running mate as a campaign strategy, rather than choosing someone based on their qualifications for the job. As a woman, I am torn. Normally I would think it's great that a woman is being nominated, but she was chosen for the wrong reasons. Sarah Palin is being used as a pawn, to lure that minority of disgruntled Hilary voters who won't vote for Obama out of spite.
And lets take a look at her qualifications: Do you think that McCain would choose a man whose biggest political achievement is being governor for less than 2 years? I don't think so. He chose her because she is a fairly young, attractive (and therefore attention-getting) woman. The fact that she is a conservative Christian, pro-life Republican is just icing on the cake to him. It also helps divert the attention from the fact that the economy is tanking and the war is extremely unpopular and the republicans don't have a good plan for digging us out of either of those problems. Does he really think the American people are so gullible that they won't see through this? Come on, that's a slap in the face to Hilary's supporters. Sure, some people won't care because they vote according to their party line no matter what. Those who will be lured in by this stunt are those that vote with their emotions rather than using the candidates' beliefs and experience to determine who to vote for. Of course, McCain is counting on all the women to fall into this category. I find that to be insulting to other women in politics who are better suited for the job.
And as for all that regular mom crap that so many people are praising- I don't want some hockey mom who took on politics as a lark for vice president. I want someone in that seat to be smarter and better educated than I am, who knows what they are doing, whether that happens to be a man or a woman. We already saw what happens when you get a regular guy in the presidency.
McCain is also digging himself into a hole with this strategy. His two main arguments against Obama (his inexperience and his celebrity status) are now even more applicable to his running mate, making him look like a terrible hypocrite who makes decisions without thinking. Not qualities I want in a president. Now he is trying to backpedal and promote himself as the candidate of change, calling himself a maverick and Sarah Palin a reformer.
What is even scarier is that given McCain's advanced age and medical history, if elected, there would be a good chance that we could see a President Palin. The mayor of Albany has more experience than she does. Her Christian conservative views also worry me- trying to censor books in the Wasilla library and then firing the librarian who said no to her, her beliefs in abstinence-only sex education and creationism. She wants to bring us back to the 50's.
And the fact that she had not been out of the country until 2007 (except Canada, which doesn't count) is equally worrying. In order to run a country which arguably has more influence over the rest of the world than any other country, you need to have first-hand experience with other cultures and not let your religious beliefs impact your judgment when dealing with other cultures. Put that together with McCain's lust for war, and you have a recipe for a foreign policy disaster even worse than the one we are already in.
And lets take a look at the energy policy.
Europe has made great strides in solar and wind energy, as well as making their cities more walking and biking-friendly, and their mass transit systems are much more efficient than ours, helping to slow oil consumption and decrease congestion in many European cities. And Asian countries are growing quickly too, simultaneously coming up with environmentally friendly advances that put ours to shame while their population grows richer and starts putting more gas-guzzling (and polluting) cars on the road every day.
What are we doing? Calling for drilling in the pristine Alaska national wildlife refuge. It made me sick to see the crowed chanting "Drill, Drill!" at the RNC. McCain originally didn't want to drill in Alaska, but all of the sudden, Sarah Palin comes in and his views change (or maybe he is just not voicing that opinion anymore). This is backwards thinking- a temporary stalling technique. We have known about the energy crisis since the 70's and have done practically nothing to come up with alternative energy sources. Ethanol is a farce too, by the way, which both the Republicans and the Democrats would do well to walk away from.
Honestly, I could go on forever about why this whole thing makes me mad, but the bottom line is that our country has been going in the wrong direction for a long time and I shudder to think how bad things would be for Benjamin's generation if McCain (and then Palin) won the presidency. If America can't get past all the hype and see these candidate for what they really are, this may be our reality. I want to believe that we are smarter than that, but come on, we did elect Bush twice. If that happens, Rob will seriously consider taking one of those jobs in the back of the ophtho magazines based in the South Pacific, and we will get out of this crazy country.